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Howard Leonhardt To Present 25 Years Of Experience With Stem Cell Transplantation At 28th Annual Interventional Cardiology Conference In Snowmass, Colo., On March 28

SNOWMASS, Colo.,
March 26, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --
Howard Leonhardt, founder of Bioheart, Inc. and Leonhardt Ventures will be presenting his team's experience with stem cell transplantation for heart failure treatment at the 28
th Annual
International Symposium of Interventional Cardiology. The conference, which will explore a comprehensive approach to the percutaneous management of structural heart disease and coronary and peripheral vascular disease, will be held at the Westin Hotel in
Snowmass Village, Colo., from
March 24 - 29, 2013. Leonhardt's presentation, titled "25 Years' Experience With Myoblast Transplantation" and listed as Oral Abstract Session VI in the program, will take place
Thursday, March 28, from
7 - 10 a.m.

Over the past 25 years, the team's research and trials in stem cell transplantation for treating heart failure have revealed the following:

Embyronic stem cells do not work in myocardial scar tissue. They form fibroblasts or more scar. They die out.

Cardiomyocytes die out when injected in myocardial scar tissue (they require too much oxygen and nutrients) and cannot be multiplied to therapeutic dosages. They are electrically unstable in scar tissue.

It is expected that repeat myoblast transplantation will reduce by half hospitalizations from heart failure. Heart-failure hospitalizations and associated care are the single leading drain on Medicare in the USA.

Myoblast-transplanted patients have a lower incidence of serious arrhythmias six months and one year after treatment than non-treated patients. Premature ventricular contraction (PVC) data demonstrates 0.05% for myoblast-treated patients and 3% for non-treated patients.

Genetically modifying cells to over-express SDF-1 can double improvement results and the consistency of results. Myoblasts alone lead to 27% improvement, while SDF-1 myoblasts result in 54% improvement. 66% of test subjects received substantial new muscle formation with SDF-1 myoblasts compared to 33% with ordinary myoblasts.

New muscle formed with myoblasts is stretch-activated.

Injecting cardiac stem cells or induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells at the rim edge of scar and myoblasts in the center of scar in combination may be worth studying.

Electrical stimulation before, during and after stem-cell transplantation can dramatically improve results.

About Leonhardt Ventures: Since 1983 Leonhardt Ventures
http://www.leonhardtventures.com has a strong history of inventing, developing, backing and bringing to market leadership products for treating heart and cardiovascular disease. Over 200,000 patients have been treated to date with Leonhardt inventions. In the 1980s, the group developed market leadership in patented polyurethane balloon catheters including drug, stem cell and radiation delivery systems. In the 1990s, they developed over 20 additional devices including the first commercially successful stent graft for aortic aneurysm repair (TALENT – Taheri-Leonhardt Stent Graft). The team completed the first ever truly percutaneous repair of an aortic aneurysm without surgery in
Melbourne, Australia, in 1995, and published the first paper on thoracic aortic dissection repair with stent grafts in The New England Journal of Medicine in 1999. Other firsts for the team include the first conformance-sealing stent graft, the first above renal fixation stent graft, the first customized-to-fit individual patient stent grafts, the first multi-stage low-profile stent graft, the first removable stent graft, the first foam and bioglue sealing cuff for stent grafts, and the first use of muscle stem cells to reinforce aortic wall necks after stent graft placement. The team developed and patented the first percutaneous heart valve, intravascular lung catheter, the Pro-Cell intracavity stem cell delivery system and the MyoCath line of stem cell delivery catheters. Leonhardt-patented inventions include the first heart pacemaker able to recruit repairative stem cells to damaged heart tissue (MyoStim Pacers). In 2001, the team led the world's first non-surgical case of stem cell repair of damaged heart muscle in a human patient with Bioheart MyoCell. That led to the first Phase III double-blinded, randomized, placebo-controlled trial for stem cells growing new contractile muscle in post-heart-attack tissue in advanced heart failure patients, with results published in the American Heart Journal: Bioheart MyoCell resulted in 95.7 meters improvement in exercise capacity over placebo (minus 4 meters decline). The team is preparing to complete the first-ever biological pacemaker implantation in a human patient within the next 12 months (BioPace).

About Bioheart, Inc.Bioheart is focused on completing its Phase II/III MARVEL study for MyoCell in treating advanced heart failure. The product candidate has been in clinical trials since
May 2001. The company believes, after 10 years of clinical trials that followed pre-clinical studies dating to 1988, that it may be on the final leg toward qualifying to apply for a biologics license-approval FDA panel review. Approximately 130 more patients are needed in the randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled MARVEL Phase II/III Part II study. MyoCell is a clinical muscle-derived stem cell therapy designed to populate regions of scar tissue within a patient's heart with new living cells for the intended purpose of improving cardiac function and quality of life in chronic heart failure patients.

Forward-Looking Statements: Except for historical matters contained herein, statements made in this press release are forward-looking statements. Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, words such as "may," "will," "to," "plan," "expect," "believe," "anticipate," "intend," "could," "would," "estimate," or "continue" or the negative other variations thereof or comparable terminology are intended to identify forward-looking statements.